# Betrayed by the Sci-fi station! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 23, 2001, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betrayed-by-the-sci-fi-station/77653 "2001-08-23T03:06:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betrayed-by-the-sci-fi-station/77653/41 "2001-08-27T15:44:19Z")
I must say that I agree the MST3K is overrated. If they hadn’t had the stupid cut scenes with them in the spaceship that would have suited me better. However, most of the movies weren’t bad enough to enjoy with dialog. Most of them were just boring movies that were still boring with the commentary. The worst thing, though, is now people think it is _funny_ to talk to the movie screen and don’t seem to understand why I want to kick their asses when they do it. ---
**Author:** ![aenea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@aenea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aenea)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betrayed-by-the-sci-fi-station/77653/42 "2001-08-27T15:51:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Laser45 \* > I expected better from the heavy way they advertised the Sci-fi station. I hated Babylon-5, probably because no matter how often you redo the plot, it’s always the same; bickering political agendas, nefarious back stabbing and limited special effects You obviously have NO idea what B5 was about, and yet you sit here and critique it. Go buy a clue kiddo. I watched this show from day one, years ago. B5 was the only sci-fi show that was never written for ratings, or for episodes. What was truly unique about it was that it was entirely written before it was ever filmed. No “let’s do a take on current affairs and set it in space” crap-o-la as many shows written per episode sucumb to. > [@](#): > > I expected much better than what it is showing. Lexx had potential, until they steered it to Earth and now it sucks, and, for me, Farscape sucked from the beginning. Lessee, you want lust and sex in space, but no real sci-fi. Hmmmmm. Why not just subscribe to a porn channel and be done with it? Farscape is the best sci-fi show currently being aired. > [@](#): > > You people have limited taste! You have absolutely no taste, from what I have read in this thread. How can you even call yourself a fan of science fiction? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betrayed-by-the-sci-fi-station/77653/43 "2001-08-28T00:34:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Laser45 \* > \*\*I watched ‘Escape From Mars’ last night and found it almost interesting, except that they spent a large portion of the script on mundane things such as interpersonal relationships between the crew, and the real action did not begin until the movie was 3/4 of the way over. ‘Contact,’ with Jody Foster, was about the most boring Sci-fi movie that I ever watched, with 95% of the movie taken up with political stuff and personal battles and the actual Science Fiction goodies arriving at the very end. > \*\* Okay, plot and character development = bad, explosions = good. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you **Laser45** , the man responsible for Michael Bay’s career. > [@](#): > > Edited for length by yers truly\*\* > See, I’m from a time where entertainment companies needed your opinion to program their shows, but now, with cable companies, they barely care about such things because what the cable company accepts, you watch and it takes a major amount of complaints before any change will be made because each cable company is a local monopoly, which gives you no choice. > > See, you guys seem to just put up with all of this stuff, but I recall when what a viewer wanted counted. I recall when stations did not shove good programming on at the begining of a season and then reduce it to junk, and when they showed a full 13 shows of a new item instead of the 6 they do now, then repeating them as they decide if they are going to be kept. Just like the new movie advertisements where you have to struggle to find out what the name of the show is because they changed the advertisements to a few lines of small print, the show’s name squeezed in there when previously the header was the biggest thing in print. No one likes them, but the entertainment industry has decided to use them because they like them. > > You guys accept what is served up. You’re used to not having a say in programming. I’m not. Just like I’m used to 24 hour good programming, which ended with the inception of infomercials that no one likes, to my knowledge, but are being kept anyhow. I don’t care if the Sci-fi station has a limited budget, it should not have designed it’s advertisement to make itself look tastier than it is and when I got it, this lying John Edward’s was not being carried by it. > \*\* Thank you, o wise elder, for your tales of the before time, in the long-long ago. :rolleyes: There’s only one thing more pathetic than an sf geek: a wannabe sf geek. You have no understanding of the genre, no respect for what makes good science fiction, and almost no discernable taste or aesthetics. Tragically, you are also the target audience most studios have in mind when they make sf movies and television. You, sir, are responsible for the unending glurge of skiffy crap that has poured out of Hollywood for the last fifty years. Go watch Armageddon again and gape at the big 'splosions, and stop trying to pass yourself off as a fan. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betrayed-by-the-sci-fi-station/77653/44 "2001-08-28T02:28:12Z")
> [@](#): > > . I don’t care if the Sci-fi station has a limited budget, it should not have designed it’s advertisement to make itself look tastier than it is Jesus. That’s funny. Since when is anything advertised as it truly is? Apparently you’re older than my 39 years to be able to remember a time when viewer input dictated how stations were programmed from sign on to sign off. > [@](#): > > You guys accept what is served up. Bah. If I didn’t like what was on I have a nifty off/on button on my remote or a couple more that _gasp_ change the channel. I’ll bet most people have that same feature. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betrayed-by-the-sci-fi-station/77653/45 "2001-08-28T05:19:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Laser45 \* > \*\*‘Contact,’ with Jody Foster, was about the most boring Sci-fi movie that I ever watched, with 95% of the movie taken up with political stuff and personal battles and the actual Science Fiction goodies arriving at the very end. > \*\* I’m guessing you’re a big fan of the movie **Battlefield Earth**. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betrayed-by-the-sci-fi-station/77653/46 "2001-08-28T13:55:26Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Laser45_ > …Ice Pirates, any of the several Mars stories, **Moon Trap** … See, it was at this point that I started laughing so hard that I feared I’d be reprimanded for disturbing the work environment. If we’re thinking of the same Moontrap here, it’s the worst movie I’ve ever had the dubious pleasure to view un-MiSTed (said the radical pseudo-intellectual :rolleyes: ) My parents were extras in this turkey. When mom took her copy to a Bruce Campbell signing, he visibly cringed–_and that is really saying something_. While SciFi may be delivering a product that is not up to the standard genre lovers crave, you can thank Jesus Christ, his 27 disciples and the busboy at the Last Supper that they aren’t giving us [Moontrap](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0097911). It’s a shame Laser is no longer with us…I was so looking forward to hearing his next lecture on quality science fiction, practical network programming, and recto-cranial inversion. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betrayed-by-the-sci-fi-station/77653/47 "2001-08-28T17:18:57Z")
Yeah, but it had Bruce Campbell in it! > [@](#): > > It’s a shame Laser is no longer with us… Whoa. Yeah, Lynn! ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betrayed-by-the-sci-fi-station/77653/48 "2001-08-29T08:24:08Z")
of course the problem is the sci fi genere its self has fallen to disrepair in the last decade or 2 and also some studios do have contracts or own other stations ie aol/time-warner so it might be years before you you see their movies or tv shows so ya use whats out there old reruns and dollar 50 budget horror and sci/fi although i do have to defend one rather horrid show that was on sci fi black scorpion porduced by roger corman yes that one the show is a in joke on sci-fi/xena/batman shows … its intentionally bad and cheesy and your supposed to laugh and roll your eyes but some people seem to think sci-fi means dry technical and humorless i disagree ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betrayed-by-the-sci-fi-station/77653/49 "2001-08-29T08:29:57Z")
They showed ‘Spaceman’ recently, and I have a new movie to list among my favorites. At first glance this looked like a dumb '80s sci-fi comedy about a goofy alien (even though it’s a '97 film) but it’s actually a dark comedy with some good writing, campy but cool fight sequences, and some genuiniely touching parts. I found out later it was made by one of the co-founders of The Onion. Watch it if it’s on, please. I’m sure they will show it again. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betrayed-by-the-sci-fi-station/77653/50 "2001-08-29T14:53:52Z")
nightshadea, I don’t mean to harp, but capitalization, punctuation and trusting the wordwrap will all help you here at the SDMB. Jester was nice enough to start a thread addressing similar problems new posters have, you might want to do a search for “Jester” in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betrayed-by-the-sci-fi-station/77653/51 "2001-08-29T17:08:48Z")
> [@](#): > > The reasons I dislike it should be obvious to anyone who isn’t fooled by Miss Cleo I promise I won’t be fooled by Miss Cleo if you’ll give me a clue as to who she is. As far as “Crossing Over” goes, I watch it with a mixture of fascination and pity. A friend of mine just lost her mother and she is desperately trying to get tickets to Edwards’ show. You can tell she’s just eaten up about her mom’s death. Me? I’m waaay too skeptical to buy into it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betrayed-by-the-sci-fi-station/77653.md?page=2)